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Spicy Shrimp Pasta in Garlic Tomato Cream Sauce - shrimp seared on stove top with crushed red pepper, paprika, and salt, then smothered in a spicy cream sauce made with chopped onions, minced garlic, crushed tomatoes and cream. Seasoned with basil and oregano. Delicious, creamy shrimp pasta recipe with lots of bold flavors!
This spicy shrimp pasta has everything you crave for in an Italian pasta: easy creamy tomato sauce made from scratch, seafood, spices (garlic, paprika, basil, oregano, crushed red pepper) - all of that over the perfectly shaped penne pasta. Simple recipe that you can make at home.
Penne is perfect for this pasta dish as it holds the sauce very well, and with every bite you will get not only pasta and shrimp but a generous scoop of spicy tomato cream sauce too! I've used gluten free pasta (brown rice penne) for this dish as well, and it was marvelous!
Whichever pasta you use, make sure to cook it al dente, then rinse it with cold water, drain it, and only then add it to the sauce. This will preserve the pasta structure and prevent it from getting mushy in a creamy sauce.
How to make spicy shrimp pasta with garlic tomato cream sauce:
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet on medium-high heat and cook shrimp on one side for about 1 minute, until shrimp turns pink on that side. While it cooks, GENEROUSLY sprinkle the top of shrimp with crushed red pepper, paprika and SALT to cover every single shrimp. Do not crowd the shrimp and don't skimp on spices:
Using spatula, turn the shrimp over to the other side and cook for 2 more minutes (on medium-high or medium heat):
Remove shrimp to a plate, being careful to leave all the oil in the skillet. To the same skillet, add chopped onion and minced garlic and cook on medium high heat in the olive that will have a nice reddish color from paprika and crushed red pepper. Cook for about 2 minutes until onions soften:
Next, add crushed tomatoes and chicken bullion cube dissolved in ¼ cup boiling water. Add basil and oregano, mix everything, bring to boil, reduce to simmer. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes, mixing occasionally and crushing all tomatoes into very small bites, until the garlic tomato cream sauce reduces just a bit. Season with more red pepper and salt, if needed.
Add heavy cream, while on simmer, and mix it in on very low simmer:
Almost immediately after you added cream and mixed it in on low simmer, remove the skillet from heat. Your garlic tomato cream sauce should look like this:
Add back the shrimp and pasta. Mix everything well to combine. Add more salt and pepper if necessary. Add more spices (crushed red pepper, basil, oregano), if needed. Gently reheat your spicy shrimp pasta.
Spicy Shrimp Pasta in Garlic Tomato Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound shrimp without shells, and deveined
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
- ¼ cup water
- ½ cube chicken bullion (I used Knorr)
- 1 tablespoon basil
- ¼ teaspoon oregano dried
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 8 oz penne pasta (for gluten free version, use brown rice penne)
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add shrimp and cook on one side for about 1 minute, until shrimp turns pink on that side. While it cooks, sprinkle the top of shrimp with crushed red pepper, paprika and salt to cover every single shrimp. Make sure not to crowd the shrimp in the skillet, otherwise moisture will form and shrimp won't sear right. And, don't skimp on spices. Using spatula turn shrimp over to the other side and cook for about 2 more minutes.
- Remove shrimp to a plate, being careful to leave all the oil in the skillet.
- To the same skillet, add chopped onion and minced garlic and cook on medium high heat in the olive oil that will have a nice reddish color from paprika and crushed red pepper. Cook for about 2 minutes, occasionally stirring, until onions soften.
- Add crushed tomatoes and chicken bullion cube dissolved in ¼ cup boiling water. Add basil and oregano, mix, bring to boil and reduce to simmer. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes, mixing occasionally and crushing all tomatoes into very small bites, until the sauce reduces just a bit. Season with more red pepper and salt, if needed. In the end, while on simmer, add heavy cream, mix it in, and immediately remove from heat.
- In the mean time, bring a large pot of water to boil and cook pasta al dente according to the package instructions. Drain.
- Add back the cooked shrimp and cooked and drained pasta to the skillet with the sauce. Mix everything well to combine. Reheat on low simmer, if needed. Do not bring to boil or high heat as it might affect the sauce texture. Add more salt and pepper if necessary.
- When serving, I like to sprinkle the top of pasta with just a touch of crushed red pepper.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
This was delicious!! I skipped the water/bouillon and added some pasta water at the end because it was a little thick. Super easy and definitely a keeper. Well done.
Thank you - so happy you enjoyed this recipe! I always keep pasta water in case I need to water down the sauce, whenever I make pasta recipes.
Just made this for my work dinners and my hubby said it was one of his favourites!! It was soo good! I only used 1 can of tomatoes and double the spices. YUM!
Thank you - so happy you liked it!
I have made this, thank you so much... it was so good!!!! This will be made again! I took the left overs to my boss, she loved it, she now thinks I am the best cook in tge world, thank you for tge recipe.
I made this tonight. It was delish!! Thank you for sharing!
I did this recipe once in late September and this was the best pasta dishes that I've ever done. I substituted the can of tomatoes to tomato sauce though.
The dish was totally divine and I'm cooking it again tomorrow for dinner 🙂
I made this for dinner tonight and it was awesome! I didn't have the chicken bullion cube so i just used chicken stock. Also, my kids don't like onions so i pureed the sauce before i put the shrimp and pasta in. They loved it! Thanks for the recipe!!!
This is a really great quick company recipe!! I try to keep all the ingredients on hand. This with a salad and bread plus any dessert, and everyone is happy. My five children all love it as well, which is rare for any recipe!!!
Trying this tonight! It looks delicious. Just one caveat - that's ziti in your pictures, not penne like you said.
If you read her blog post you will see/read that she suggests penne, but says that you can use any pasta. So for her pictures she had made this recipe with Tinkyada brown rice penne. If you look this product up you will see the word penne on the product but it looks like ziti.
For those of you who have lots of questions, but haven't read the post, you should read the post. It gives you a lot of the information that you think is missing.
I don't normally comment on recipes but I made this for dinner last night and it was delish! The entire family plus daughter's boyfriend loved it! Thanks for sharing - I will definitely be making again!
Hi Julia,
I plan on making this dish tomorrow night. My husband bought Knorr Extra Large Bouillon Cubes. What sized did you use in this recipe before you cut the cube in half? If this question is a duplicate I'm sorry. I submitted a question earlier and it did not show up. Thank you
Hi Julia,
I plan on making this dish tomorrow night. I noticed that the package of Knorr Chicken Bouillon my husband bought has "6 Extra Large Cubes." I wasn't sure if this is what you used in the recipe and cut it in half?
Thank you
This recipe is delicious!! You can make it spicy by adding more crushed red pepper or less if not found of spicy. I have made the same recipe with chicken instead and it always comes out great! Brought it to work and it was a hit! Now its a recipe I use all the time, Thank you!
Made this and was very yummy however I added WAY too many red pepper flakes and it came out way too spicy so if you are sensitive to spicy foods go easy .
Best Recipe. I loved it. Thanks for sharing the wonderful recipe with us.
This was delicious!! Thank youdor the recipe. By any chance do you some of the nutrtion facts?